Doing What’s Right

Doing what is right instead of what is popular is not easy. Two names come to mind of people who had a hard time in this area. They are Lot, Abraham’s nephew, and Aaron, Moses’ brother. Lot seemed to make most of his decisions based on what people thought of him and how beneficial it would be to his comfort, rather than on biblical principles. He chose the well-watered plains of Jordan because they were beautiful. Lot’s ability to make critical decisions would continue to weaken over time until, in a major crisis for his life and family, he would choose what people wanted rather than what was right.

Aaron is a classic example of this pattern of behavior. It was the first time Aaron had been left in charge of the people while his brother Moses was up on the mountain. The people came to him demanding he make them gods to worship: "Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don't know what has happened to him" (Exodus 31:1). Aaron found himself intimidated and unwilling to take an unpopular stand, so he chose what the people wanted.

Anytime and anywhere someone pressures us to do the wrong thing, we must do what is right regardless of what they think of us. This is a major challenge for teenagers and even college-age students who often please the crowd more than they do God. Whenever we choose an agenda that compromises our convictions and corrupts our morals, we are caught in a web of deceit. Today, one of the major compromises for Christian young people is whether or not they will remain virgins until they are married. The popular thing is to be sexually active—to not be is to be weird. This lie is very prevalent today, but it’s not new. Whenever we put our self-centered interests or our desire to be popular over principle, we sin. We always lose more than we gain in the bargain. Aaron’s and Lot’s decisions were disastrous, and they not only brought shame and disgrace on themselves and their families, but they also failed to give God the glory in their decisions.

On the other hand, Daniel and Joseph are examples of men who did what was right even if it was unpopular. Daniel’s entire life represents an uncompromising stand for what is right even if it meant he might have to suffer. Joseph overcame sexual temptation, thereby showing all young people it can be done. You don’t have to be a slave to your biological drives or a puppet in the hands of your peers. You can choose to do what is right even if it is very unpopular.

You ask how a person makes good decisions like Joseph and Daniel. It begins with developing a faithful commitment to God. This is a commitment to trust God in all situations, enabling you to make tough decisions that from the outside look as if you are the loser. However, on the inside you know God will not abandon you, and therefore you will not abandon your principles. Never has there ever been a day when we needed men and women who are willing to do the right thing, even if it is unpopular, more than we do today.

A Better Way to Live

Laura Hillenbrand, in a fine book entitled Unbroken, writes about forgiveness.  Louie Zamperini and Phil Phillips endured 47 days on a rubber raft in the Pacific Ocean. They barely survived the crash of their bomber plane, the strafing of Japanese machine gun fire, and deadly shark attacks. The rubber raft was disintegrating from the salt water, and their bodies could hardly take another day in the brutal sun. Then they spotted land, but it turned out to be an island occupied by the Japanese. Louie and Phil were immediately dragged to a POW camp. Being in a Japanese prisoner of war camp was the worst place on the face of the earth in World War II. There was one Japanese soldier called the Bird who took sadistic delight in beating Louie. He would beat him with a belt almost every day. Surviving in this place of torment was a daily challenge. The day of liberation finally came, but unfortunately the Bird escaped and made his way back to Japan. Louie went back home, but the war continued to rage inside him. He couldn’t stop hating the Bird, and his desire to seek revenge grew with each day. He turned to alcohol and became a terrible husband.

One day Louie was overcome by a strange, inexplicable feeling that suddenly the war was all around him and in him. In random moments he felt like lice and flies were crawling over his skin, even though there was nothing there. It only made him drink harder. One day he opened a newspaper and saw a story that riveted his attention. A former Pacific POW had walked into a store and saw one of his wartime captors. The POW called the police who then arrested the war criminal. As Louie read the story, all the fury within him converged. He saw himself finding the Bird, overpowering him, his fists pounding his face, and then his hands locking about his neck. In his fantasy he killed the Bird—slowly savoring the suffering he caused. If he could get back to Japan, he would hunt him down. 

Louie finally found himself at a Billy Graham crusade where he received Christ as his savior.  That night the sense of shame and powerlessness that had driven his need to hate the Bird suddenly vanished. The Bird was no longer his monster, but only a man. Louie felt something he had never felt before for his captor. With a shiver of amazement, he realized it was compassion. At that moment something shifted sweetly inside him. It was forgiveness—beautiful, effortless, and complete. For Louie Zamperini, at long last the war was over.”[1]

Every person feels the urge to get even sometime, maybe with the reckless driver on the highway or with the mean co-worker. No matter what the offense, forgiveness is always the better choice. The benefits of forgiveness are greater than those of being an unforgiving person because they have a positive effect on our lives.

First, forgiveness heals the heart. Forgiving a person for doing you wrong is like applying healing salve to your broken heart. When you say you’re sorry to another person, it heals the wound. However, refusing to forgive is like a spreading infection that inhibits the healing process.

Secondly, forgiveness enables a person to turn loose of grudges. The self-pity, the nagging thoughts that cause you to remember the hurt, leaves you as you forgive. You are no longer restricted and bound to the same old fiendish feelings and desires of settling the score. To the contrary, an unforgiving person declines any opportunity to let go of grudges. When people harbor resentment, they find themselves controlled by the bitterness as it saps their physical and emotional energy.

Thirdly, forgiveness removes the desire to retaliate. Given enough time, a hurt becomes a wound, a wound becomes a grudge, and inevitably, a grudge calls for retaliation. But, forgiveness eradicates the reason to retaliate. An unforgiving person demands a day of reckoning and a chance to get even. Forgiveness clearly gives a person a better way of dealing with the hurts that come his way. Forgiveness sets a person free from the past and hands him a brand new future. Forgiveness is the better way to live.

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[1] Laura Hillenbrand, Unbroken, A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption, Random House, NY, 2010.